NineTailed Maiden
by RMXStudio
Summary: When Naruto left Konoha, they had a festival. Now that the village is in trouble, they have need for their precious Jinchuriki. Too bad she's not willing to help. Warning: fem!Naruto, no parings w/ main character. Don't Like, then Please Don't Read.
1. Hanagakure

**(7/29/13) Did slight edits. Please let me know if there are any major issues that I have overlooked. I accept CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. ;)**

**This took me SOOOO freakin long to redo due to the fact that I've been more focused on MOTN. To those people who actually read this, I'm SOOOO sorry that it took me soooooo long. Please forgive me~ :C Anywho, now that I'm kinda on blank for MOTN due to lack of inspiration, I can focus a bit more on my other stories and the few oneshots that I'm planning on posting. I've actually had this chappie in my computer for a while, but had forgotten about the story. This is my kinda weak attempt to get back to it~ Thanks for reading~  
-JD**

**Disclaimer: I dun own Naruto. This concept of femNaru is mine, tho~ Dun be a stealer~ OR ELSE. O.o**

* * *

Far away from Konaha, in the outskirts of a village, there was a cave. It seemed lonely until you realized that there were children freely playing outside by it, hanging yet-to-be-lit paper lanterns. All of the lanterns had either a picture or the kanji for "fox". It was time for the Fox's Festival there. The holiday had not been started until three years ago. Even so, it was one of the most festive celebrations that the village had all year.

Hanagakure, the Hidden Village of the Flower, really was well hidden. They lived in peace, even if they weren't the richest of people. None of the other villages would really hear much of them and they never caused trouble. But it was here that a tailed beast dwelled. Yet, unlike most of the other villages who also had a tailed beast with them, this village and the creature corresponded with each other peacefully.

In truth, the cave was the beast's home. The village and the mystical being were on such good terms that even the children were allowed to play near its home. In return for tranquility, the being agreed to protect those close to it. It also agreed to heal any injured person with the Uzaki, a flower with remarkable healing abilities.

No human was able to reach an Uzaki because of its location. It was in two places in the cave: one was at the top of the cave, where the sharp stalactites pointed menacingly down upon any person who tried to reach the red and yellow flower, and the other was in the deepest part of the cave, where people had died because of lack of a way to get back out. It was only the beast who had the ability to reach the flowers, be it the first location or the second one. It wasn't life threatening for it in either situation.

Because of this, the village considered the beast their savior. It was well respected and it respected them in return. People were healed and the beast was given food and praised for its hard work. That's how life had been there for three years…only to change this single season.

"Ne, ne, Naru-chama! Are you up yet, Naru-chama?" a little deep blue haired girl called into the cave.

"Aiko, you know better than to disturb her!" a brown haired boy growled gruffly.

"Don't worry, Aiko. Keichi's just being stingy!" a red haired girl teased.

"Mou, Ryako, don't make fun of me!" he pouted.

"Te he! It's all cause you have a crush on Naru-sama!" the girl retorted light-heartedly as she played with Aiko's neatly braided ponytails.

"I DO NOT!" he objected strictly.

"Ya do too!"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

"Having fun?" a soft voice cut in.

All eyes turned to the opening of the cave. There stood a young woman of at least sixteen years, her hair blond at the top and trailing down to above her shoulders turning red as the strands closer to her face turned toward it. She had tanned skin, almost caramel colored, and blue eyes the color of the clearest sea. Her white and blue kimono slipped had slid off of her shoulders during her nap, lightly revealing the top of her average chest, her left arm limp at her side, right hand rubbing her eyes. There was a long slit on the side of it to her mid thigh, revealing a long, tanned leg. She had a smile that seemed to sit easily on her face. Aiko's chocolate brown eyes brightened with joy along with Ryako's green and Keichi's blue ones.

"Naru-chama! It's so good to see you!" Aiko squealed as she ran into her arms.

"Good morning, Aiko," she smiled as she hugged her lightly, "How are you doing today?"

"Good! Momma says that I'm the healthiest I've ever been!"

"Mmhmm! Ever since you got her the Uzaki medicine, she's been as jumpy as a grasshopper!" Ryako cheered, jumping up and down as her shoulder length hair bounced.

"I'd say that you're the one that's jumpy," Keichi joked.

"Ha! I'm dying of laughter," she grumbled back.

"I've gotten better at fighting, Naru-sama! Do you want to see?" he announced.

"Sure, why not?" she chuckled lightly as he began.

He pulled out a wooden sword and held it like a samurai, eyes closed and ears listening for the slightest sound. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open as he slashed at something to his left. Hiding his sword behind his back, he looked closely at the leaf that he slashed at. There on it sat a beetle…it split into two after a few seconds. Everyone clapped wholeheartedly at the feat.

"WHOA! You didn't show me that, Kei-kei!" Kyriako cheered.

"That's cause I wanted to show Naru-sama first!" he announced before covering his mouth.

"Aw, I'm touched. You wanted to show me first?" Naru-sama bent down to his level and ruffled his hair affectionately, "Well, I'm very proud of you, Keichi."

Keichi blushed a deep color of red while the girls giggled.

"Will you play with us today, Naru-chama?" Aiko requested.

"Hmm…I guess. What do you all want to play then?"

"NINJA!" all three children squealed at the same time.

Naru-sama sighed. She continued smiling, but her mind was elsewhere when they said that. Shaking her head lightly, she drew the collar of her kimono up until it was straight and fairly neat, then she held onto her right shoulder, swinging it's arm around in a circle with a grin on her face.

"Alright then! Who will be it? You know I can't."

"You'd find us instantly!" Aiko laughed.

"I'll be it this time! I want to catch Keichi!" Ryako yelled as she turned around to a rock.

Everyone braced themselves. Legs locked and eyes searched for a quick moment. All they had to wait for was…

"One, two, three…"

And they were off.

Aiko sped to the trees and jumped up the sides of two of them to get to a branch before propelling her small body through the trees. Keichi did the same, but with the boulders around the cave instead of trees. He got to the top of it before dashing off. Naru-sama simply jumped up to a tree branch and hid behind the tree, masking herself. She paused as she began sensing the other two's chakra. After assuring their safety and keeping her senses trained on the chakra of the three children, she rested there and decided to take a short nap.

'Ah yes…these are the days…'

And she fell asleep out.


	2. Foreign Ninjas

**(7/29/13) Slight edits were done.**

**Well well well...turns out that it's not dead after all. It'll take a bit before I update on this one more, but I'll get better at it.  
HAPPY NEW YEAR.**

**Disclaimer:...well duh**

**-JD**

* * *

Aiko ran in the trees till she found a good hiding spot. The branch was large enough for her to stand on for a long time and the trunk was wide enough to hide her body as she prepared her cover for hiding. Giggling, she stood up against the tree and concentrated her chakra and breathed in deeply.

"_Meikaku oou no jutsu!_" she whispered.

Suddenly her chakra aura disappeared to almost nothing as her form turned transparent against the tree. Thought she knew that there was one person who could see through this technique, that person wasn't "it", so she was confident that it would work pretty well. Keeping her hands together to keep the jutsu working, she stood as still as possible, her eyes closed.

'When I'm like this, they won't be able to find me. One day, I'll learn how to do it without my hands toge-'

The sudden sound of thumping and a vibration from the end of the branch snapped her out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes in shock, quickly realizing that what little of the chakra she felt was unrecognizable. This was not one of the members of their game.

The people at the end of the branch wore deep green shirts and black pants with bandages wrapped around random parts on their bodies. One of them had deep, messy brown hair that stuck up in every other place on his head, deep hazel eyes narrowed in annoyance, and his mouth couldn't be seen due to the neck of his deep green shirt covering it. The other had shorter, neater deep tan hair, black rimmed glasses that helped him see with his forest green eyes, and a small brown bandana wrapped around his neck. The neater one's eyes stared questioningly at the map that he was holding in his hands as the other groaned.

"You got us lost, didn't ya?" the brown haired one growled indignantly, scratching his head.

"Well YOU were the one who decided to go after this monster by yourself!" the other fussed back, eyes narrowing.

Aiko's lips pursed. What monster were they talking about? There were no monsters in Hanagakure.

"Why did you come along then?"

"That's because you can't face a beast like this by yourself! You'd get yourself KILLED. Don't you know all those stories that the villagers would tell us? If the monster is at this next town or near it and you pick a fight, YOU'LL SURELY DIE, especially without Sasuke-senpai or Sakura-senpai to help us!"

"Wouldn't you die to for coming with me?"

"…Well, you can't tell left from right, so I had to come…"

"You just want to watch."

"I do NOT!"

"QUIET! If it's around here, it'll hear you!"

Aiko listened carefully. She knew that she probably wasn't supposed to eavesdrop, but what else could she do? The poor girl was stuck using an invisibility jutsu and they had landed there unannounced, so if she let it loose as she was, they would think her to be a spy! She wasn't strong enough to fight off ninjas!

Then her eyes focused on their forehead protectors. There was a symbol that looked like a leaf with a swirl in the middle of it. Her eyes widened, remembering what Naru-sama had taught her students not too long ago.

"_Listen closely because I want to see if you can remember it without me repeating myself."_

_The chattering children became silent after a few moments. Many parents were attending also to either learn in the background or watch their children learn. All had some form of a smile on their face._

"_Alright, now what does it mean if a ninja has a symbol on its forehead protector?"_

_One child raised his hand and Naru-sama nodded in recognition._

"_It means that they are a part of a certain village. Each village has a different symbol."_

"_Correct! You've been listening well! That goes directly into the lesson for today. We will be learning all of the known villages and their symbols. Now, for some of you, this is a review because you came to class on the day I assigned that we would first go over it. But don't worry; we'll get all the rest of you caught up! So, let's begin. "_

_She then pulled a large sheet of paper with many different symbols on them. There was a gourd with a separated top right above it, two shapes, one smaller and the other bigger, that looked mysteriously like clouds, four lines going straight down, a figure that looked a lot like two rocks, three bottomless triangles that connected at one corner, looking a lot like grass, an arrow pointing down without actually having the end of the arrow, an eighth note, a five pointed star, four black diamonds that seemed to be falling, four slightly wavy lines pointing diagonally to the right, and a leaf with a swirl in the middle._

_The teacher nodded with satisfaction, remembering who drew the pictures in the first place._

"_Okay then! Who can name these as close as they can?" she smiled cheerily._

_Several children laughed and called out as they raised their hands. _

"_Um…the one with the…gourd…is the Hidden Sand Village called…Su…su…Sunagakure!"_

"_The one with the note is the Hidden Sound Village called…Otogakure, right?"_

"_The diamonds represent snow so…the Hidden Snow Village is…Yukigakure."_

"_The rock is obviously the Hidden Rock Village, so that would be Iwagakure."_

"_The curvy triangles look like grass. That would be the Hidden Grass Village which is...Kusagakure."_

"_Four straight lines down…rain…the Hidden Rain Village…Amegakure!"_

"_That bubble-like one is the Hidden Cloud Village called Kumogakure."_

"_The Hidden Mist Village is called Kirigakure…that's the…uhh…curvy lines…I think."_

"_The Hidden Star Village is the star symbol and is called Hoshigakure~"_

"_Uh…umm…the…arrow is waterfall…The Hidden Waterfall Village…uhh…um…T-…Takigakure…"_

"_Uh, Naru-sama? What's the swirly one?"_

_The room seemed to stop as her mouth opened to answer but froze. Her eyes stared with a growing anger at that sign as the adults in the room widened their eyes in interest. Their savior was showing malice. That was something she almost never did._

"_Umm…Naru-chama? Are you okay?"_

_Said young woman's eyes flickered up at the child's voice. Her pupils were dilating slightly and her irises were a strange color of deep orange, flickering towards red. All froze in shock and fear of her. At the sight of fear in the villagers' eyes, her face softened and her pupils went back to normal, but her irises only turned to a lighter orange color._

"_That is the symbol for the Hidden Leaf Village called Konahagakure…my hometown."_

_Some people gasped at the information. The children gathered close to her to listen carefully, feeling that whatever she was going to say, it was going to be important._

_Naru-sama sighed heavily, turning her head to the side and stared out of a window as the clouds lazily floated in the air._

"_Konoha is where I was born. Not me as a tailed beast, but as a Jinchuriki. Most of you know that the past Kyuubi attacked the village under the control of Madara Uchida. The Fourth Hokage sealed the beast into a child, his own child, to keep it from continuing its' rampage. You would think that the villagers would be thankful to me, right?"_

_An ironic smile came across her face as some kids nodded._

"_Wrong. They didn't show me any thanks. They even made attempts to kill me. Had it not been for the Fifth Hokage, I would've surely been killed. He used a disguising seal on me and had prevented them from doing done something even worse than destroying my house, not allowing me to get healthy food, trying to get me killed, and only giving me the orange handy downs to wear."_

"_What would've been worse?" a child near the back asked._

_She looked at him with a sad yet smiling face._

"_They would've…done very bad things to me that I'm not sure you'd understand at your age. That is why, when I had contained some form of control over the Kyuubi and I was old enough to take care of myself, I left the village."_

_A few of the older children and some of the adults who understood why she didn't say what they would've done due to the younger children in the room, gasped in horror as some children began grumbling against Konoha. One child piped with a question._

"_D-do you think that they miss you?"_

_She stared at the child for only a second before laughing tiredly and leaning back._

"_Who knows? The last time I checked, they were having a festival over my leaving their village."_

_Now, even the parents grumbled._

"_But, don't get me wrong," she began, startling them slightly, "Don't hate everyone from Konoha. While most were having a party, there were a select few that had been my friends that mourned my leaving. There may have been even more that found my leaving a disadvantage…some other people who loved me…so don't hold a complete judgment over Konoha. There are some people there who regret my leaving and some people can change. Please, I don't mean for you to be immediately racist against the people, but I will tell you this: if you meet one, judge them by both their personality and your instincts and don't immediately trust any one of them. If you do, most likely they will turn their back to you and betray you…"_

_Everyone took in this information solemnly before looking at her pat her face twice and pip up again._

"_Well enough of that! I like to think of happy things now because I'm in…" she trailed off, holding up a sign that had the symbol of a flower that looked a lot like the Uzaki._

"_Hanagakure!" everyone said at the same time, cheering afterward._

And there it was. Right on the forehead protectors of the ninjas in front of her were the symbols of Konohagakure. She drew in a sharp breath before freezing, realizing her mistake, as one of the ninjas froze as well.

"Did you hear that?" the messy one whispered.

"Yeah. Get ready for anything…"

The one with messy brown hair began looking sharply around him and his partner as the latter began looking around as well. The messy one then took the shortest look to his side…toward Aiko. She began to shiver slightly, searching for the best way out of there. Just when she thought of trying to converse with them and explain why she was there, three small shuriken hit the wood right above her head.

Losing concentration, she released her hands from each other and her jutsu wore off. She stared at them with fearful brown eyes as her hands shivered and tears began to develop. The forest green of the neat one narrowed as he stood and moved to get closer to her with cautious hands. The messy one began to say something along the lines of "what's a brat doing out here", but she couldn't focus. She was too afraid. Finally, just when it seemed like the neat one was about to touch her…

She darted off of the branch and ran straight to the cave.

"Get her!" she heard one of them say.

Then she began to hear the sounds of footsteps pattering closer to her. Her heart beat quickly as she heard the clunk of more shuriken hit the wood as she jumped through the trees, failing to hear one of them rebuke the other for doing so. Crying, she sent out a wave of chakra as she connected her hands.

"_Chou-soku no jutsu!" _she whispered, sobbing as she did so.

Suddenly, she began to run at speeds that were impossible for the other ninjas to keep up with...that was until she heard them whisper it quickly as well. Little did they know she was a master when it came to speed, and even though the technique was common, she excelled.

But that didn't stop them from trying to catch up.

Naru-sama knew that something was wrong as she rested in her inner world, the past Kyuubi's grave. First of all, she felt two chakras that she didn't recognize enter the perimeter of the Hanagakure forest. But, deciding that it could be some of the resident, friendly Onbaa, she thought not too much of it but continued paying attention. Then there was the fact that those two chakra-filled forms began chasing the chakra of a person she did know. Recognizing the chakra, she realized that it was Aiko. None of the Onbaa had ever chased one of their villagers before for they also acquired help from the Uzaki flower, why then…oh…these chakras belonged to humans. Then, she felt the distress call from Aiko's chakra.

Her eyes snapped open.

Jumping down, she landed softly in the grass. When she turned to her right, she saw Ryako begin to come to her from behind a tree.

"Naru-sama, you're supposed to hide! You're al-"

"Go get Keichi. Go get him and run to the village. Alert them and that there is danger and I will be returning with Aiko soon. Do you understand?"

At the tone of her voice and the stance that she made, Ryako realized quickly that Naru-sama was being serious.

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh, and when I get back, tell everyone to call me Iza."

Her eyes widened. Naru-sama had told all of the villagers to only call her Iza if there was an intruder. Not wasting a single second more, she darted off to find Keichi, eyes widened in worry.

'Iza' looked at her as she ran off before heading forward at sound speed to save Aiko.


	3. Attacking Aiko

**(7/29/13) Slight edits**

**Sup. Sorry I haven't been able to update lately and for its shortness. It's been quite a while, but there's sooo much school work to do, and I need to maintain my A average if I'm going to get sushi every month. That and I have college plans that I'm working on.**

**Thank you for reading! :)**

**-JD**

* * *

Aiko, though she was scared, was actually a bit proud of herself. She actually had a good two miles away from the ninjas that were chasing her, but she wasn't going to stop. Running forward, she headed swiftly to the village…until she was suddenly halted.

A huge shuriken flew from around the tree she was jumping off of and began twirling right in front of her. Startled by the shuriken, she screamed as she lost her footing and fell from the branch. It followed her, swiftly moving under her before she heard a popping sound and a puff of smoke moved from under her. Just as she thought she was going to hit the ground, she fell into waiting arms.

Suddenly, another shuriken twirled from around the tree they were standing by, dispersing in front of her to reveal the messier ninja. She felt the hands on her arms tighten before she was unceremoniously pushed up against the tree closest to them. Angry green stared into fearful brown.

"What are you doing in this forest? There's no village near here for the next hundred miles or so. You're not a spy for the Akussu, are you?" he growled slightly at the name, moving his weight off of her arms just slightly.

"Calm down," the other ninja said, "She's just a child, you know. She can't do much."

"Can't do much? She was OUTRUNNING us not too long ago! Had we not turned ourselves into shuriken and chased her like that, we would've never caught up to her! Now tell me, where do you come from? Are you afraid to tell me because you are an-"

She mumbled something under her breath, interrupting him as tears fell from her eyes.

"Huh? I didn't hear you."

"C'mon. This isn't what the senpai would want us to do. Let her go, she'll go home," the other said, a slightly worried expression coming onto his face.

"If she goes home and it turns out to be the Akussu, then she'll tell them of our location and we'll either be hunted down or they'll tell the Akatsuki! Now tell me! Where do you come from?!"

"Hanagakure." an unfamiliar, infuriated voice replied.

When the three people turned to the left, they saw 'Iza' standing near them, her deep orange eyes boring into the souls of the two ninjas that held her companion hostage. She could feel their eyes traveling along her body and watched as their faces flushed, but when she reinforced her gaze, they stiffened in fear.

Aiko, realizing the slack in the young man's hold on her arms shook him off and quickly ran, open-armed, to her savior. Iza kneeled down and took hold of the child. She began sobbing into the crook of her neck, her small hands clutching the kimono she wore. She comforted the young child, picking her up as Aiko wrapped her arms around her neck. Rubbing Aiko's trembling back, she scowled heavily at the two who looked back at them.

"We come from Hanagakure, the Hidden Village of the Flower. Of what business do Konoha ninjas have in our territory, threatening our children?" she berated.

"I'm sorry," the neater one said, straightening himself up from his mistake and searching his map, "I am truly sorry, but the village of Hanagakure does not appear on this map," he replied, suspicion in his voice.

"What are you sorry for? Are you sorry that you cannot find our village, or are you sorry that you troubled an innocent child?"

"Umm," he muttered as he looked at her with wary eyes, "Both, miss. I am apologizing for both."

"Well then," she growled, "you shouldn't apologize for the map. We really are hidden, after all. But you should apologize for attacking Aiko. And I don't mean by just saying sorry. The proper way to apologize is to say that you apologize and then you state what you did wrong. I will not accept it unless you do so. Apologizing by just saying "I'm sorry" absolutely will not cut it. And when I say this, I mean that I want an apology from both of you to her. Now."

The two men froze. She was a stern piece of work that was for sure. Not to mention that she's scary. They watched as Iza cooed to Aiko and got her to turn to them slightly and then sent them a demanding glare. So, the two got on their knees and bowed heavily, their noses almost touching the ground.

"Miss Aiko, we humbly apologize for attacking you when we didn't know you. You are just a child and it was absolutely unacceptable for us to attack you like we did. As we said before, we humbly apologize."

Aiko, by this time, had stopped sobbing as she was before, and instead looked at them with something that looked like worry, but it was closer to dejection. She knew she was safe because 'Iza' was there, but she couldn't help but dislike them because of their attack. Nevertheless…

"Okay…I forgive you…" she muttered.

Then, having been comforted enough, requested Iza to set her on the ground. The instant her feet touched the grass, she moved her right hand to clutch the cloth that lay on Iza's leg and hid behind her.

"Get up now. You'll get your faces dirty." Iza demanded, eyes shifting to blue, though the others didn't seem to notice.

The two moved up almost immediately. They dusted themselves off before they stared at the woman, only to find that she wasn't looking at them. Instead, she was looking at the tops of the trees, her pupils shifting from one tree top to another. After a few moments of just standing there, the messy one called out to her.

"Umm…what are you looking at?"

"If I am correct, I am looking at your group leaders. They have been watching us since I picked up Aiko."


	4. Guilt Trip No1

**Sup sup? Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. There's been a whole lot of stuff going on, and my muse for the story kinda died for a while.**..  
**A long while.**

**Anyway, I'll try to get back to it while I can. I'm trying to make this story shorter than my other ones, but it's hard too since I'm such a long-winded person sometimes. Anyway, I hope that you'll see more updates from here on.**

**Thank you for reading! :)**

**Disclaimer: Naru-chan's had enough of Konoha's shit**

**-JD**

* * *

The two ninjas looked startled while Aiko looked passive. She was used to 'Iza' sensing other people by then.

"Two…! Oh man! We're in-"

"So much trouble, I'm guessing?" a pink haired young woman finished gruffly, jumping down from her position from the tree top along with a black haired young man.

The young woman had short, pink hair that reached the middle of her neck, a red shirt that was opened right before her breasts with a zipper that went straight down then diagonally left near the end, black shorts under a pink, jacket-like skirt that had a split in the middle on the back and front, and the knee high version of the usual ninja shoes. Her elbows were covered with cloth and her hands had fingerless gloves on them.

The young man had the clothes of a Jounin, wearing the customary green vest over the navy blue, long sleeved shirt with red swirl signs on the shoulders of the sleeves. His pants were equally navy blue, with the exception of added wraps around his left thigh and right calf. He wore the usual ninja shoes and had fingerless gloves as well.

Both sported a Konoha forehead protector.

Iza had to resist the urge to growl in anger. Of all the ninjas to show up, it had to be these two.

The pink haired one bowed lightly, the black haired one following the suit.

"We're terribly sorry for the behavior of our younger ninjas. They should've known better, and I assure you that we mean no harm."

Iza huffed, adjusting the way she was standing so she could put a hand on her jutted out hip.

"Of course you mean no harm. Even if you did…" Iza paused to grin, "Well, then you'd be on your own."

The Konoha ninjas questioned that statement, but said nothing in regards to it.

"Anyway, I don't believe that you've introduced yourselves," she began, bringing back her cold demeanor, "What are your names?"

The pinkette brightened at this, a smile coming onto her face, "Forgive us for our rudeness! I am-"

Before she could finish, the black haired ninja interrupted her.

"How can we trust you? We're out in the middle of nowhere and you suddenly ask us for our names. It seems quite suspicious to me," he said, eyes narrowing.

"Well, if you want to be that way," Iza began, arms crossing in front of her, "How can we trust you? Your kouhai come out of nowhere, attacking a child from our village, which it seems that we are not important enough to even be noticed as we aren't located on your maps, and you expect me to just sit by and not at least get the names of those in charge of them?"

Aiko looked up at her guardian, a gleam of respect and idolization in her eyes, her cheeks warming slightly.

'How cool…'

The black-haired male's eyes widened slightly. It was not often that he was trumped when it came to offensive conversation. He could see Sakura's eyes widen at the same realization out of the corner of his eyes. He stared at the young woman, noticing that she was staring straight back.

Eventually, he closed his eyes, admitting defeat, and heard the gasps from his kouhai once they realized that he lost the silent battle.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," he replied, silently hiding his grudge.

"Sakura Haruno," the pinkette said after a moment of silence.

"I'm Keiji Maasaki," the neater one replied before pointing to the messier one, "and this guy is Akio Matsumoto."

"Yo," the latter of the two mentioned said sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head.

Iza looked at them a moment, blinking and evaluating them silently. Then she sighed.

"I am Iza, and this is Aiko, as you already know. What business do you have here?"

Sakura piped up at that, "Well, that's not any of your bus-."

"When you are passing through a village's territory, you commonly tell a council member what you are doing in their territory, right?" she asked, eyebrow raising.

"Y-yes," Sakura replied.

"Well, you're in luck. I just so happen to be a council member. So, I request to know what you are doing in our territory," Iza said, disdain heavy in her tone.

Once again, the Konoha ninjas were trumped. The two senpai looked at her tiredly. They really just wanted to continue their route so they could find the beast they were looking for.

"On second thought, " the caramel woman said, causing the ninjas the blink at her in question, "It would be best if more than one council member heard what your purpose for appearing in our quiet village is. Follow me, won't you?"

Aiko reached her hands up to be carried, Iza easily doing so. The strange young woman then turned around and began heading back where she'd come, reminding herself to pointedly avoid visiting her cave.

"How do we know it's not a trap?" the ninja known as Keiji asked, feeling a little threatened by how she had handled his senpai.

She didn't even bother turning around, replying, "How do I know that you aren't here to kill the village leader? I don't. To be honest, it really is a reasonable question, what you are asking. But look at it this way. "

She paused and turned around, looking at him sharply, "I'm putting a large amount of trust in you all, perhaps too much considering what happened not too long ago. I imagine you have the capacity to do the same for us as well."

Keiji's mouth shut with a click of his teeth.

Satisfied with his reaction, she went back to walking, noting softly that Aiko had fallen asleep, her chakra slowly rebuilding.

The Konoha ninjas followed her cautiously to Hanagakure.


End file.
